Mutual Fund Investments in Roth IRA?

Question

I currently have the following funds in my Roth IRA
Fidelity Freedom Fund - $2500
Fidelity Spartan Index Fund - $2000

I contribute every month to my Roth IRA and was wondering if I need to continually contribute to those two funds described above or spawn off new funds to invest it. If I do this, I don't want to invest in more than five funds because this would spread myself too thin and I would not be able to take advantange of the potential compounding growth.

Answer 1

It all depends on your age and your attitude and how much you want to get "involved"
There are about thirty different "freedom" funds (the number after its name gives you an approximate projected retirement date) If it's 2010 and you are only 25 or 30, it's a little too conservative.
The same goes with Spartan Index funds...if it's a 500 index, conservative....if its International Index...you may be making money!
Go to your Fidelity site and hit research, then mutual funds... look at the ones Fidelity calls "picks" or something like that... find one that you can purchase for $1000. and try it for two three months....then compare.
I'm pretty sure if you "exchange" from a Fidelity fund into another,there is no fee.
Keep your monthly contributions going into the Freedom fund you'll be fine... just see what kind of percentages you've got between the two or three in a few months time.
I wish I could have explained that better, but my wife has to use the computer!!
Good luck.

Answer 2

good questions. you should be aware however, that the fidelity freedom fund, as well as all of the target date and risk based funds, are intended to be a one stop shop for investing. these funds are known as fund of funds, and simply allocate your deposits to numerous mutual funds. by investing in funds other that that fund, you are undermining the objective of this fund by taking on a level of risk not intended by the fund manager. in other words, the fidelity freedom fund already has a substantial allocation to the spartan indexes. take a look at the freedom funds underlying funds. if you want to go the freedom fund approach, it should be the only fund you use. hope this helps.

Answer 3

80% of all mutual funds fail to beat the SP500 for the long term (10 plus years). So really the only mutual fund you really need is the SP500 index fund from Vanguard (vfinx). 11.7% annual return since 1974.

Answer 4

You wouldn't be wrong (in my opinion) to just keep on going on the track you are on. Fidelity is a good company and as long as you invest every month you will be fine when you need the money.